1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a method for displaying a perspective image with an image element for at least one occupant of a motor vehicle. Beyond this, a display device is proposed for at least one occupant of a vehicle with a segment for display of a perspective image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, during the operation of a motor vehicle, for example a personal automobile, considered in particular from the viewpoint of the vehicle operator, a large amount of information must be processed—information regarding developments in the traffic environment and information from instruments in the dashboard. The information in the instruments in the dashboard may be displayed in conventional analog displays as well as, increasingly, in electronic displays. The appearance and mode of the representations in the electronic displays is conventionally in the shape of bar graphs, static images or numeric displays, as known for example from the periodically “auto-motor-sport”, 9/87, pages 170 through 174.
The occupant thus must combine very many pieces of information from the observation of the present and future traffic environment together with the technical information provided electronically by the dashboard, for example the speed of the own vehicle, in order to be able to safely control the vehicle in traffic. In addition, the occupant is forced to rapidly react in the case of a dangerous situation, so that their ability to glance downwards towards the dashboard and therewith the information displayed therein is very limited. Instead, the driver is usually forced to rely on his abilities and experience to respond to the dangerous situation.
For the rapid overcoming of a particular dangerous situation, in particular that of collision or near collision, increasingly so-called proximity alarms are known, which warn the vehicle operator in the case of a too narrow distance between the own vehicle to the preceding vehicle by emitting acoustic or optical signals—tones or vocalized signals or, as the case may be, warning lights or bar graphs, so that the operator can reduce his speed and thereby increase the spacing. A disadvantage with all of these systems is that the occupant must separately interpret the environment and the therein occurring dangers as well as the therewith associated warning signals. This requires time, which is not available, particularly in the case of a dangerous situation in which response must be made within a few seconds.